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FactsAreUseless posted:Ever play the old Infocom Hitchhiker's Guide game? Whatever sins the Discworld games committed, at least one can say this: there was nothing in them as sadistic, as inhuman, as monstrous, as actively hostile to the player, as the babelfish puzzle. We shall never see its like again.
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Aug 2, 2016 01:17
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Hm, it looks like Isis Publishing offers Pratchett books on CD and also on MP3 CD. Is anybody familiar with the quality of the MP3 CD versions? Are they particularly good or bad compared to plain CD? I don't feel like ordering one all the way across the ocean just to find out.
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Aug 2, 2016 01:38
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idonotlikepeas posted:Whatever sins the Discworld games committed, at least one can say this: there was nothing in them as sadistic, as inhuman, as monstrous, as actively hostile to the player, as the babelfish puzzle. We shall never see its like again. The Babel Fish puzzle is far from unsolvable. The Tea/No Tea puzzle, on the other hand, was devised by ancient Cthonic gods to drive men mad.
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Aug 2, 2016 01:40
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Rand Brittain posted:Hm, it looks like Isis Publishing offers Pratchett books on CD and also on MP3 CD. Is anybody familiar with the quality of the MP3 CD versions? Are they particularly good or bad compared to plain CD? I don't feel like ordering one all the way across the ocean just to find out. If they are the same ones that are on Audible, then they are well read. As for quality, I can't imagine an MP3 being that much worse than normal CD for spoken word. If you put a single book in MP3 on a CD the quality could be really, really good.
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Aug 2, 2016 05:42
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precision posted:The Babel Fish puzzle is far from unsolvable. The Babel Fish puzzle is unsolvable by trial and error in the number of moves given. You have to save and reload at least once if you went in blind. The tea/no tea puzzle, on the other hand, is almost trivial because anyone who sees no tea drop as an item and doesn't pick it up isn't playing with the right sense of humour. I say "almost" trivial because your natural instinct is to drink the tea immediately. But if you've saved the game regularly as you should by this point because of the loving Babel Fish, you can go back. And neither of them is as slimy as the steam tunnels puzzle in The Lurking Horror, which I'm pretty sure cannot be solved without some foreknowledge. Re: the Glod footnote - it's actually Al-Ybi, pronounced "alibi".
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Aug 2, 2016 08:07
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subx posted:If they are the same ones that are on Audible, then they are well read. As for quality, I can't imagine an MP3 being that much worse than normal CD for spoken word. If you put a single book in MP3 on a CD the quality could be really, really good. I know about the quality of the reading. What I'm curious about is the sound quality of the mp3, because the quality on Audible is really bad. (Apparently this only applies to the US version.) As far as I can make out, the files on Audible are whatever they uploaded when Audible was new and the max sound quality was crazy low.)
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Aug 2, 2016 16:37
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precision posted:The thing I always remember no matter how many years past is the first footnote explaining Glod the Dwarf. And we have to love Glod's descendant, Glod Glodson, in Soul Music. The whole Band With Rocks In has wonderful chemistry and Glod has some of the best quips in the whole series. Glod: *brandishing a trumpet* My name's Glod. I can blow anything. Imp y Celyn: You must be very popular. Glod: You can't get me in there, the doors aren't wide enough. CMOT Dibbler: What? The doors are huge, of course you'll fit! Glod: No, because you'd have to drag the whole street in on account of me holding onto it. Glod: *after hearing the name "The Band with Rocks In"* I like it, short and dirty. Like me. Glod: I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my whole life! I'll have to change this vest any day now. And the Blues Brothers references in that book were glorious. It'd be my favorite in the series if it wasn't for Susan whining half the time.
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Aug 4, 2016 04:13
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Yeah, Glod and Rocky have some fantastic lines. Soul Music might be my favourite of the 'pop culture thing meets the disc' kind of books.
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Aug 4, 2016 06:26
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Started a reread of Thief of Time. I watched a lot of Top Gear since the last time I read it, and consequently there's something perhaps a bit unfortunate about a major character named Jeremy Clockson.
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Aug 4, 2016 15:58
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It's been so long I started reading The Colour of Magic and I can't remember most of it. Things are good 
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Aug 4, 2016 20:59
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I should probably get around to doing a complete re-read of the series. Most of the Disc novels I read as they were published (I think Mort was current when I found The Light Fantastic at, of all places, a loving K-Mart). After all this time, though, I still remember the opening of Sourcery nearly verbatim. God drat that is how you start a book.
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Aug 6, 2016 09:39
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Ika posted:I seem to remember one of the end game puzzles in return to zork requiring an item from the start screen, which you couldn't get back to. The bonding plant? There's a way back to get it or get another one if you killed the first
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Aug 6, 2016 13:01
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I read The Colour of Magic again because it's been long enough I don't remember it too well and I just realized it literally ends with a cliffhanger and then some.
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Aug 6, 2016 16:14
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Mokinokaro posted:The bonding plant? There's a way back to get it or get another one if you killed the first I don't remember what exactly, its been 20+ years and I don't think I ever beat the game. Jerry Cotton posted:I read The Colour of Magic again because it's been long enough I don't remember it too well and I just realized it literally ends with a cliffhanger and then some. You guys have gotten me to start rereading it as well.
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Aug 6, 2016 19:14
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It had way less footnotes than I remembered.
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Aug 6, 2016 19:21
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precision posted:I should probably get around to doing a complete re-read of the series. Most of the Disc novels I read as they were published (I think Mort was current when I found The Light Fantastic at, of all places, a loving K-Mart). "I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes life worth while?" Death thought about it. "CATS," he said eventually, "CATS ARE NICE." Oh, Death. 
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Aug 7, 2016 04:52
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Screaming Idiot posted:"I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes life worth while?" There was a voice like groverhouse sinking into the ground: YOSPOS, BITHC
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Aug 7, 2016 05:40
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FactsAreUseless posted:Ever play the old Infocom Hitchhiker's Guide game? I have never been so frustrated in my life. Can we never speak of this again?
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Aug 7, 2016 06:59
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What's the latest that there stop being references to real world things in the main novels? I just read Guards! Guards! which uses a Welsh village as a metaphor a couple of times and I was surprised to find it in there, since I thought that kind of thing stopped pretty early on.
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Aug 7, 2016 10:30
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Screaming Idiot posted:And the Blues Brothers references in that book were glorious. It'd be my favorite in the series if it wasn't for Susan whining half the time. We're on a mission from Glod!
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Aug 7, 2016 16:45
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Corrode posted:What's the latest that there stop being references to real world things in the main novels? I just read Guards! Guards! which uses a Welsh village as a metaphor a couple of times and I was surprised to find it in there, since I thought that kind of thing stopped pretty early on. It never goes away entirely, I think. Thief of Time opens with a reference to the Titanic movie.
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Aug 7, 2016 17:05
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Canuckistan posted:We're on a mission from Glod! That entire section makes me laugh out loud to this day. "We're a piano. Don't mind us." "Okay."
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Aug 7, 2016 20:59
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YggiDee posted:It never goes away entirely, I think. Thief of Time opens with a reference to the Titanic movie. Thud has a reference to the London Underground's logo towards the end. Gets less common, and more subtle, but it's too ingrained in the Discworld to go away entirely.
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Aug 7, 2016 23:52
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I think Corrode was specifically talking about the narration referring to real world things, not just clever allusions etc. Like, the early books are chock full of little asides along the lines of "I know this book is set in the Discworld but you, the reader, and I, the narrator, are on Earth so here's some comparisons our characters would have no idea about" Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 01:38
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I like the way Pratchett describes the way gargoyles move: "It's a shame Rincewind has never seen poor-quality stop-motion animation, because that's exactly what they looked like."
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Aug 8, 2016 03:35
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Hedrigall posted:I think Corrode was specifically talking about the narration referring to real world things, not just clever allusions etc. Yeah this. A lot of the humour is things which are allusions or references to real-world things, but early on he'll literally say "It was like this thing in Wales" or there's that brief bit in Colour of Magic where Rincewind temporarily becomes Rijnswind and so on and I thought that died out pretty early as the Disc became more self-contained.
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Aug 9, 2016 10:11
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You mean that his talent didn't spring fully formed from the head of Zeus like your better class of Greek god?!
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Aug 9, 2016 17:20
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Kesper North posted:You mean that his talent didn't spring fully formed from the head of Zeus like your better class of Greek god?!  Mostly the humor in Rincewind's Earth-equivalent having a completely useless doctorate in giant nuclear reactors, but still.
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Aug 9, 2016 19:50
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I liked that random airplane section A doctorate about nuclear reactors catching fire.
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Aug 9, 2016 20:10
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Tunicate posted:A doctorate about nuclear reactors catching fire. And it's not completely useless, just useful in only one incredibly specific scenario. It's a perfect analogue for the spell from the Octavo.
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Aug 10, 2016 00:18
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Jedit posted:And it's not completely useless, just useful in only one incredibly specific scenario. It's a perfect analogue for the spell from the Octavo. What's the use for the spell, again? I remember that in the end of the book Great A'Tuin became a parent  and fighting demons with an typical morporkian weapon, but barely anything else. Plot summaries talk about the Octavo in general.
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Aug 10, 2016 12:13
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Fat Samurai posted:What's the use for the spell, again? I remember that in the end of the book Great A'Tuin became a parent The Great Spells all change reality. All eight of them used in concert will change Great A'Tuin's mind.
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Aug 10, 2016 12:22
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Oh, I misunderstood your post as each one having a different, specific, purpose, then. 7 "normal" Creation spells and the 8th one being the "in the case of assault from the Dungeon Dimensions/A'Tuin mating/Narratium leaving the universe, break glass" thing
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Aug 10, 2016 12:43
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I liked that random airplane section Oh, not debating that. I laughed pretty hard. It was a good bit. Just not... smooth.
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Aug 11, 2016 05:48
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Fat Samurai posted:Oh, I misunderstood your post as each one having a different, specific, purpose, then. 7 "normal" Creation spells and the 8th one being the "in the case of assault from the Dungeon Dimensions/A'Tuin mating/Narratium leaving the universe, break glass" thing No, it's just a humourous take on the saw about people who take degrees in specialist scientific fields. They leave university with their heads stuffed with knowledge that is totally useless in daily life and have no room left for anything practical, and they can't even use the knowledge they do have without half a dozen other specialists.
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Aug 11, 2016 08:29
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As someone who's read tons of Baxter and none of Pratchett, I just started the long cosmos (final book of the long earth series). I feel like I can pick out things that Pratchett wrote fairly well, mainly stuff that's outside of Baxter's wheelhouse. I do have some complaints of the series, namely the constant summarizing of previous events (we get it), and the huge amount of telegraphing going on ("Oh no sally has a bad feeling about something, what could it be?!"), though I generally like where the foreshadowing leads. But I like pithy humor and interesting world building. How will I do with some solo Pratchett works? Any recommendations?
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Aug 30, 2016 03:55
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Food Boner posted:Any recommendations? Because you like Baxterley you probably like big ideas, so I'd say Small Gods. it's one of prattchet's best and it's totally stand alone. If u like it, look to some reading guides after that and start one of the arcs. He wrote a huge amount of great books you've got tons to look forward to!
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Aug 30, 2016 07:52
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Got back from the Discworld Convention last night, and you'd be amazed to hear there was news - though you may have heard some of it. It's official that Rhianna's adaptation of The Wee Free Men is being produced by the Jim Henson Company. Terry Rossio (Shrek, Aladdin, POTC1) is writing the Mort adaptation. He's a huge Discworld fan who reads The Wee Free Men when he's blocked. Gaiman has completed all six hour scripts for Good Omens on TV. The burning of Agnes Nutter is going to be a fan event. The last, uncompleted Discworld novel was Twilight Canyons. Jacob Little, the Disc's angriest pacifist, is co-opted by Vetinari in the same way as Moist von Lipwig to solve a mystery in a retirement home for non-humans. And that's all I'm going to tell you. I wouldn't have said that much if Rob hadn't loving shredded it. The delays to The Watch have in part been because they realised picking up after Raising Steam as planned wouldn't work, and they had to dramatise at least some of the earlier boks first.
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Aug 30, 2016 10:09
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Jedit posted:The burning of Agnes Nutter is going to be a fan event.
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Aug 30, 2016 10:23
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Jedit posted:The delays to The Watch have in part been because they realised picking up after Raising Steam as planned wouldn't work, and they had to dramatise at least some of the earlier boks first. Surprised they even considered that, seems to me there's no way to do it without adaptions of the early books. I hope Good Omens retains some of the radio series cast.
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Aug 30, 2016 10:32
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